Tag Archives: seniors

‘Get off my front lawn’ — A plea for quiet at Capitol Hill’s Pride Place affordable LGBTQIA+ senior housing

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(Image: GenPride)

By Matt Dowell

What happens when a city makes a place for its LGBTQIA+ seniors to remain in the middle of the changing queer-friendly community many of them grew up in? On Broadway just between Pine and Pike, Lots of good things like bumping into neighbors like you getting morning coffee or visiting the 4,400-square-foot health and community services center right on the ground floor.

There are also things from the other end of getting older and seeking a quieter, more peaceful existence than Broadway around 2 AM on a Friday night.

“Noise is not just an annoyance – it kills and disables,” says Rick Grossman resident at Pride Place, the affordable housing development for LGBTQIA+ seniors on Broadway.

“We’ve measured noise levels in an eighth floor apartment with a closed triple-paned window at 95 decibels,” he said. “Earplugs don’t help when the floor and bed vibrates. One neighbor sleeps in her bathroom.”

Grossman’s months-long campaign to address nightlife noise levels near his building has caught media attention. He says that in the last eighteen months, the streets near Pride Place have seen an increase in both unpermitted street food vendors who blast amplified music and cars that race with modified exhaust systems.

But Grossman says that he has had a hard time getting in touch with local leaders. When he’s made contact, he’s not been satisfied with the results.

“It feels like the city has ignored the LGBTQIA+ seniors,” said Grossman. “Whether because we are gay or are older.  It feels that our concerns are dismissed and we are just old codgers shouting, ‘Get off my front lawn.’” Continue reading →

Construction set to begin on new 33-story senior housing tower on First Hill — Horizon House says 70% of its units are already claimed

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(Image: Horizon House)

Horizon House says construction is set to begin on its new 33-story West Tower on First Hill neighborhood. The project will add 202 residences to the existing University Street campus, creating, it says, one of the tallest purpose-built senior living high-rises in the United States.

“The West Tower is an ambitious effort that will expand urban senior living options for active seniors in downtown Seattle,” Erica Thrash-Sall, Horizon House CEO, said in the announcement. “We took on this project with one goal in mind: to ensure Horizon House thrives for the next generation of residents.”

The expansion is moving forward in December as Horizon House turns the existing West Wing property over to Andersen Construction to begin demolition. An official groundbreaking ceremony for the skyscraper is scheduled for late January. Continue reading →

Affordable, LGBTQIA+ focused, and neighboring Neighbours, Pride Place creates a new home for Capitol Hill seniors

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After decades of community hope, Pride Place is filling with residents.

On Broadway between Pike and Pine, the affordable housing for LGBTQIA+ seniors is the first of its kind in Washington. There are 118 new homes in the project. The conveniences of modern construction and quality windows will help keep dance club Neighbours a good neighbor.

The ribbon was cut on a cold fall night in late October but energy from the new senior residents cut the chill. Taking the stage was Laney, a resident of Pride Place who had been waiting a long time for queer elders to be placed at the forefront of the community’s needs.

“Pride Place is the kind of place my friends and I talked about in our 40s, something we could only dream about,” Laney said.

Pride Place is special. Applicants must financially qualify for the building that is utilizing “affirmative marketing” to reach out to underrepresented communities and help make the new building a home for the LGBTQIA+ senior community. The building cannot restrict leasing to queer-identifying seniors because of federal housing law. Instead, Pride Place is reaching out to LGBTQIA+ seniors who meet income requirements.

Laney was a longtime resident of Capitol Hill until COVID hit and she took to the road in her minivan, leaving behind her close-knit queer community. It wasn’t a decision she took lightly, while her travels over the next couple years were full of adventure she couldn’t forget those she had left behind.

“I missed my queer community,” Laney said. “I returned to Seattle but there was no way that I could afford my apartment on Capitol Hill any longer — I couldn’t return to my beloved neighborhood.” Continue reading →

A new rainbow landmark on Capitol Hill, application process begins for Pride Place ‘affordable, affirming housing for LGBTQIA+ seniors’

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The green roof is covered with vegetation and solar panels

There is another type of important Pride event happening this week on Capitol Hill.

Thursday, the application process for new Broadway affordable senior housing development Pride Place opened to interested residents. Move-ins are expected to begin in September. Hundreds are expected to apply for one of the building’s 118 studio and one-bedroom units neighboring queer dance club Neighbours.

Calling its project “affordable, affirming housing for LGBTQIA+ seniors in the heart of Capitol Hill, Seattle,” developer Community Roots Housing says it is working with community partner GenPride to put the final touches on the building this summer. Continue reading →

Pride Place will neighbor Neighbours in 2023 with LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing and services

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Neighbours is hoped to have dozens of new neighbors by August (Image: CHS)

Keeping people moving on Broadway has been part of the job (Image: CHS)

Pride Place, a LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing project that will include a 4,400-square-foot senior and health services center rising above Broadway and neighboring Capitol Hill classic gay dance club Neighbours, is on track to open for its first residents late this summer.

Construction crews marked the development’s “topping out” in December, a milestone signifying the last major beams are in place and work can now begin to seal up the building, dry the structure out after weeks of ice and rain, and get to work on installing interiors as well as important systems like plumbing and electrical.

On CHS’s visit last month to the work site on Broadway between Pike and Pine, there were also important decisions being made — where in the neighborhood should they get tacos for the dozens of construction workers busy on the project to celebrate a 90-day safety milestone.

The development is the result of a collaborative effort of GenPride, the nonprofit serving LGBTQ older adults, and Community Roots Housing, a low-income housing provider headquartered on Capitol Hill but increasingly focused on investments across the city. But the work underway above Broadway since the project broke ground in September 2021 is being managed by Walsh Construction. Continue reading →

Mount Zion on 19th affordable senior housing project receives state funding boost

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The state will give a more than $1 million boost to a senior housing project currently under construction on 19th Ave and hoped to help address displacement in the Central District.

The Mount Zion on 19th project was awarded $1,025,768 by the Washington State Department of Commerce announced as part of $18.6 million for 16 projects supporting the development of more than 1,500 affordable housing units across the state.

The property on 19th Ave just north of Madison is being developed by the housing arm of the nearby Mount Zion Baptist Church. The property was previously occupied by the church’s Price Arms apartments, a two-story, four-unit apartment building that county tax records indicate was built in 1901.

Plans call for a six-stories above ground and one below in a design from Rolluda Architects. The seven-story building include 10 studios, 50 one-bedroom units and a single two-bedroom unit. There will be seven parking stalls and 12 bike parking spaces. The plan also includes space for group meetings or activities, and a roof deck.

The housing is going to be rented at prices designed to be affordable to people making between 30% and 60% of the area median income with some of the units set aside for veterans.

The state funding comes in the form of Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) grants that can provide up to $2.5 million for “sewer, water or stormwater improvements and/or waived system development charges for new affordable housing projects.”

Mount Zion, which also owns other land in the area around 19th and Madison, also has major plans for its main church property as part of a long-term planning process that created a framework for “a major expansion of new and existing structures.”

The 19th Ave project broke ground in October and is expected to be completed in winter of 2023.

The new building will add to options for seniors hoping to continue living in the central city. Pride Place, an eight-story affordable housing development dedicated to serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer seniors with 118 units of studio and one-bedroom apartments, 3,800 square feet of commercial retail space, and a 4,400-square-foot senior and health services center, is under construction on Broadway between Pike and Pine.

 
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Hopes for ‘intergenerational connection’ as Pride Place LGBTQ-affirming senior housing breaks ground on Broadway

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(Image: Environmental Works)

By Renee Raketty

The Broadway block between Pike and Pine that has seen so much of queer life and history on Seattle’s Capitol Hill hosted something new Friday afternoon: a groundbreaking ceremony for Pride Place, an affordable housing development dedicated to serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer seniors. In addition to 118 units of studio and one-bedroom apartments, the eight-story building will feature 3,800 square feet of commercial retail space and a 4,400-square-foot senior and health services center.

“I think it’s going to be a real center of LGBTQ life, both for seniors and also our midlife folks. We’re really hoping to make an intergenerational connection here at Pride Place,” explained Steven Knipp, executive director of GenPride. “We’re also asking a lot of our partners to come in and bring their communities. So, we’re really trying to make this a collaborative community effort, space and home for people to come and just be yourself.”

The development is the result of a collaborative effort of GenPride, a nonprofit serving LGBTQ older adults, and Community Roots Housing, a low-income housing provider.

Around 100 people gathered for Friday’s ceremony hosted by Seattle drag personality Aleksa Manila, and featuring speeches from politicians and important project partners alike. Seattle City Council President and mayoral candidate Lorena González joined King County Council Vice-Chair Joe McDermott, state Sen. Jamie Pedersen and state Rep. Nicole Macri for the groundbreaking.

Macri, who has been involved in the project for the last six years both as a lawmaker and Capitol Hill resident, hopes the senior and health service center will not only benefit the entire King County region but “provide inspiration for how smaller communities can also create new spaces” across the state of Washington. “This is one of the very few community events I’ve done during the pandemic and, so, it is really just heartwarming and energizing to be here with other people, particularly other folks from the neighborhood and from the LGBTQ community to come together. Never underestimate what the LGBTQ community in Seattle can accomplish. This is really inspirational.” Continue reading →

Welcome to Pride Place, Capitol Hill — Eight stories of LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing ready to rise above Broadway

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(Image: Environmental Works)

Thursday, Capitol Hill-based affordable developer Community Roots Housing and GenPride are announcing the results of a community process to name their new eight-story, LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing project set to break ground later this year on Broadway between Pike and Pine. The result, Pride Place, a new home and community center for seniors in the core of Capitol Hill.

“The name is important because we are staking a claim in a historically LGBTQ neighborhood,” GenPride executive director Steven Knipp tells CHS.

The coming development is still wrapping up permitting with the city to create 118 units of “affordable workforce rental housing” above GenPride’s new offices and services from community organizations that will call the building home in a 4,400-square-foot LGBTQ senior community center and 3,600 square feet of commercial retail space along Broadway. Continue reading →

On 19th Ave, church plans seven stories of affordable housing for seniors ‘displaced due to gentrification’

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Mount Zion Housing Development, the real estate and housing arm of the 19th and Madison baptist church, has unveiled details of its planned seven story, 62-unit affordable senior housing project planned for its property just north of the church.

The 1700-block 19th Ave development is being planned for “seniors who have been displaced or who are at risk of being displaced due to gentrification in the Seattle Central District area” and would be a coordinated facility with the nearby E Madison Samuel B. McKinney Manor. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Housing seeks community feedback on ‘LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing project’ The Eldridge

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(Image: Environmental Works)

You can help shape The Eldridge, an eight-story affordable housing project focused on LGBTQ+ elders on Broadway between Pike and Pine that will include at least 100 units at a mix of affordability levels rising above the preserved facade of an auto row-era Seattle landmark.

Affordable housing developer Capitol Hill Housing and Capitol Hill architectural firm Environmental Works are collecting community feedback as they prepare for the start of the city’s design review process set to begin later this year:

Capitol Hill Housing’s LGBTQ-Affirming Affordable Senior Housing Project at 1515-1519 Broadway has been awarded funding by the Seattle Office of Housing, King County, and the Washington State Housing Trust Fund. The project team is preparing to submit the initial design package to the city for the Early Design Guidance process and is currently seeking feedback from community members on the project. A public update meeting was held in August 2019 and the project team plans to hold an additional public meeting in mid-2020 to obtain feedback on the building design and programming. Community members are encouraged to submit comments about the project in the meantime by visiting the project webpage or contacting the project team at [email protected] (note: any information collected may be made public).

Last August, CHS reported on early plans for the project being envisioned as one of Seattle’s first “community preference” developments — a new program that encourages developers receiving city money to offer a portion of their affordable units to communities with ties to the neighborhood, particularly those with a high risk of displacement.”